...a photoBook is an autonomous art form, comparable with a piece of sculpture, a play or a film. The photographs lose their own photographic character as things 'in themselves' and become parts, translated into printing ink, of a dramatic event called a book...
- Dutch photography critic Ralph Prins

But never have we been reminded so often and so well of our Dutch heritage. Had it not been for present day Dutch promotional savvy, we would probably have missed the whole 400th anniversary thing. Or we’d have been stuck with celebrating on our own terms, which certainly would not have involved major cultural events and exhibitions.

Were the United States to remind the English of our common heritage by unilaterally staging an official series of arts events in London, it would be regarded as an act of cultural imperialism, rightly so. But New Yorkers are pretty confident of their place in the grand scheme of things—center of the universe as we know it—so a little cultural hubris on the part of the Dutch is not necessarily unwelcome. The city has rolled out the red carpet, with the mayor pointing out, in this election year, that none of it has cost the city a red cent, much less $24 in beads and trinkets.

Since the Dutch prefer to look at “high culture” rather then reflect upon the “low culture” – the suburban landscape – it was difficult to find funding for our project. It forced us to take the lead. We subsequently became the producers, photographers, publishers and designers of the project. For the publication we had in mind we invited the American-born Dutch writer Tracy Metz who contributed an elaborate essay on the phenomena of the Dutch Highway. When designing the photo-book we choose a linear form. We had photographed in a mix of styles – using a variety of cameras and film – reflecting on the changes that had occurred in landscape-photography since the seventies. Every spread of the book was different; we used gatefolds, grids, full-bleed pages and included a typographical landscape as a double-gatefold, using the names of underpasses which in the Netherlands are called after the historical locations present before the highway was constructed there.

Although Snelweg depicts the freeway in the intensely used Dutch context, it’s really a universal theme, and applies to the motorway landscape of western Europe and the urbanized parts of the United States. It could have been the starting point for a different exhibition looking at connectivity and mobility as inhabited space not simply as the bare bones of infrastructure.

Photo by Hans AarsmanAs an outsider in the Netherlands I found the Dutch frequently inscrutable, insular. That’s how I feel about Hans Aarsman’sphotographs. When I first arrived in the Netherlands his book of photos taken from the roof of an RV while traveling the country was something of a popular sensation for what was basically art photography. I never connected with the pictures, but obviously the Dutch recognized something essential about themselves in the mirror of his camera. In any case, I don’t think he is well served by showing poorly printed 4x5 contact prints to Americans unfamiliar with his photographs.

Photograph by Wout BergerWout Berger is another brilliant Dutch photographer perhaps not adequately shown in Nature as Artifice. His photographs of polluted wasteland around the Netherlands are interesting—despite murky looking prints—but his more recent work, often made just looking down at the ground a few feet in front of him, find the infinite in the finite. His book,Like Birds, which is on sale at Aperture Gallery, is beautiful.

What’s missing from this exhibition, speaking from a not entirely disinterested perspective (see my own pictures of the periphery of Amsterdam), are images of the new neighborhoods, the utopian architecture, the supreme expressions of the planners and architects whose visions of the future have been implemented in the Netherlands to an extent unique in the world. There are glimpses of it in Nature as Artifice, but just as the cityscape of New York was missing from Dutch Seenat the Museum of the City of New York, significant aspects of the Dutch landscape are largely absent in this, nevertheless, worthwhile show at Aperture.

Have this group photograph New York? Now that would have been interesting.

zaterdag 26 september 2009

FOAM MAGAZINE #20 / TALENTThis 'Talent' issue is devoted to young and talented photographers worldwide. The talents are scouted through our annual talent call and the KLM Paul Huf Award....But what defines talent?

"Fear of being too late and missing out, fear of being a trend-follower instead of a trendsetter, means that young artists sometimes very quickly are labelled as ‘the next great thing’" -Marcel Feil Curator Foam-

We asked Jörg Colberg, the founder of the brilliant photoblog Conscientious, to make the interviews for the Talent Issue. You can now read some of the extended versions of Q&A's on his blog ...

FOAM MAGAZINE #20 / TALENTThis 'Talent' issue is devoted to young and talented photographers worldwide. The talents are scouted through our annual talent call and the KLM Paul Huf Award....But what defines talent?

"Fear of being too late and missing out, fear of being a trend-follower instead of a trendsetter, means that young artists sometimes very quickly are labelled as ‘the next great thing’" -Marcel Feil Curator Foam-

We asked Jörg Colberg, the founder of the brilliant photoblog Conscientious, to make the interviews for the Talent Issue. You can now read some of the extended versions of Q&A's on his blog ...

donderdag 24 september 2009

As one of the world's preeminent photographers, Sally Manncreates artwork that challenges viewers' values and moral attitudes. Described by Time magazine as "America's greatest photographer," she first came to international prominence in 1992 with Immediate Family, a series of complex and enigmatic pictures of her three children. What Remains--Mann's recent series on the myriad aspects of death and decay--is the subject of this eponymously titled documentary.

Filmed at her Virginia farm, Mann is surrounded by her husband and now-grown children, and her willingness to reveal her artistic process allows the viewer to gain exclusive entrance to her world. Never one to compromise, she reflects on her own personal feelings about mortality as she continues to examine the boundaries of contemporary art. Spanning five years, What Remains contains unbridled access to the many stages of Mann's work, and is a rare glimpse of an eloquent and brilliant artist.

dinsdag 22 september 2009

For the second time, Erik Kessels brings his own photos together in a new book Tree Paintings – Photography by Erik Kessels, which documents trees “marked for destruction by loggers”. Kessels has recorded these ‘tags’, or simple inscriptions made on the bark of the tree by different people, in a series of close up shots. The second book release, Bombay Beauties, is a collection of found photographs which have been acquired and edited by Kessels and is a follow-up to Bangkok Beauties. The featured images were collected in Mumbai and depict “a rich mix of ordinary subjects from hairdressers’ models to family shots, to wedding images”.

Kessels has brought vernacular photographyto the forefront and his exhibition Loving Your Pictureswas one of the highlights of Rencontres d’Arles 2007. As with much of Kessels curation of, mainly, ‘found’ photographs, the themes and concepts binding the work appear deceptively simple but are brilliantly polysemic and engaging. What’s more, photographers considering producing their own books would benefit from looking at the selection of books produced and published byKesselsKramer Publishing, especially as each work is conceived of and treated to different processes resulting in objects which help achieve the initiative’s stated interest “in testing boundaries in the field of publishing”.

The HQ, KesselsKramer, is located in Amsterdam and has a sister hub outlet KKOutlet – a quirky place which is a hybrid communications agency-cum-gallery-cum-bookshop – perched in east London’s hip Hoxton Square. Kessels’s magazine Useful Photography can be purchased here alongside a wonderful collection of books.

For the second time, Erik Kessels brings his own photos together in a new book Tree Paintings – Photography by Erik Kessels, which documents trees “marked for destruction by loggers”. Kessels has recorded these ‘tags’, or simple inscriptions made on the bark of the tree by different people, in a series of close up shots. The second book release, Bombay Beauties, is a collection of found photographs which have been acquired and edited by Kessels and is a follow-up to Bangkok Beauties. The featured images were collected in Mumbai and depict “a rich mix of ordinary subjects from hairdressers’ models to family shots, to wedding images”.

Kessels has brought vernacular photographyto the forefront and his exhibition Loving Your Pictureswas one of the highlights of Rencontres d’Arles 2007. As with much of Kessels curation of, mainly, ‘found’ photographs, the themes and concepts binding the work appear deceptively simple but are brilliantly polysemic and engaging. What’s more, photographers considering producing their own books would benefit from looking at the selection of books produced and published byKesselsKramer Publishing, especially as each work is conceived of and treated to different processes resulting in objects which help achieve the initiative’s stated interest “in testing boundaries in the field of publishing”.

The HQ, KesselsKramer, is located in Amsterdam and has a sister hub outlet KKOutlet – a quirky place which is a hybrid communications agency-cum-gallery-cum-bookshop – perched in east London’s hip Hoxton Square. Kessels’s magazine Useful Photography can be purchased here alongside a wonderful collection of books.

Journey To The End Of Coal tells you the story of a sacrifice. A sacrifice millions of Chinese coal miners are making everyday, risking their lives and spoiling their land to satisfy their own country’s appetite for economic growth.

Your journey begins in Datong which is located just a couple hours away West from Beijing. You travel from there all around the region and visit its major coal mines, from the “best” state-owned complex to the worst private coal plants.

In and around the coal mines, you get the story first hand from the mingong, the rural migrants traveling their country looking for work.

At your own pace and will, you meet them and learn more about how they live in this valley of death and pollution, sometimes even literally bumping into them as they leave their home for their night shift, in the frozen winter of Northern China.

Journey To The End Of Coal tells you the story of a sacrifice. A sacrifice millions of Chinese coal miners are making everyday, risking their lives and spoiling their land to satisfy their own country’s appetite for economic growth.

Your journey begins in Datong which is located just a couple hours away West from Beijing. You travel from there all around the region and visit its major coal mines, from the “best” state-owned complex to the worst private coal plants.

In and around the coal mines, you get the story first hand from the mingong, the rural migrants traveling their country looking for work.

At your own pace and will, you meet them and learn more about how they live in this valley of death and pollution, sometimes even literally bumping into them as they leave their home for their night shift, in the frozen winter of Northern China.

maandag 21 september 2009

Olivia Arthurphotographed the ramnamis in India. These leather workers are on the lowest rung of the caste system. Because they process the skins of the holy cows they are 'untouchables' and are, for instance, forbidden to enter Hindu temples. As an expression of their own proud religious convictions the ramnamis tattoo the name of the god Ram all over their bodies. In this way they wish to show that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and that they have no need of temples to confess their faith. The tattoos of a divine name on the skin of an unclean person are at the same time a provocation addressed to the higher castes.

Olivia Arthurphotographed the ramnamis in India. These leather workers are on the lowest rung of the caste system. Because they process the skins of the holy cows they are 'untouchables' and are, for instance, forbidden to enter Hindu temples. As an expression of their own proud religious convictions the ramnamis tattoo the name of the god Ram all over their bodies. In this way they wish to show that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and that they have no need of temples to confess their faith. The tattoos of a divine name on the skin of an unclean person are at the same time a provocation addressed to the higher castes.